South Carolina Rules Firing Squad Legal for Executions

Execution by firing squad was ruled constitutional by the South Carolina Supreme Court on Wednesday, upholding a 2021 law that sought alternative methods of carrying out the death penalty.

Over the last decade, prison officials have struggled to obtain the necessary drugs to carry out lethal injections as many pharmaceutical companies have refused to sell their products to be used in such a manner out of fear of litigation or moral objection.

As a result, authorities have pressed for other ways of carrying out death sentences.

Wednesday's ruling stated that lawmakers have made a "sincere effort" to make the death penalty less inhumane while upholding the electric chair, lethal injection, and firing squad as legal means of execution.

Rising costs of litigation and more aggressive appeals have seen prosecutors rarely seek the death penalty in the last two decades. Nevertheless, South Carolina's 2021 law prompted four death row inmates to sue Gov. Henry McMaster and the Department of Corrections, saying the methods were cruel, unusual, or corporal.

Justice John Few wrote for the majority opinion saying the 2021 law was a "sincere effort to make the death penalty less inhumane while enabling the state to carry out its laws."

"The inescapable reality that an execution by any method may not go as planned — that it will be 'botched' — does not render the method 'cruel' under the Constitution," Few wrote, adding "there is a serious discussion developing in this country as to whether the firing squad is a less inhumane method of execution than even lethal injection."

Republican Gov. Henry McMaster applauded the court's decision saying, "The Supreme Court has rightfully upheld the rule of law. This decision is another step in ensuring that lawful sentences can be duly enforced and the families and loved ones of the victims receive the closure and justice they have long awaited."

"Courts have never held the death has to be instantaneous or painless," Grayson Lambert, a lawyer for Gov. Henry McMaster's office, wrote.

The Hill noted that no executions have been carried out in South Carolina since 2011 and there are currently 32 inmates on death row.

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